Richmond faces backlash for Kellyanne Conway joke

U.S. Representative Cedric Richmond is getting backlash for comments that he made about Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Donald Trump.

During the Washington Press Club Foundation Congressional Dinner, Richmond commented on a photo of Conway kneeling on the coach in the Oval Office, while Trump was meeting with a group of presidents from historically black universities and colleges.

Richmond stated to Senator Tim Scott, "I really just want to know what was going on there, because I won't tell anybody. You can just explain to me that circumstance because she really looked king of familiar because she really looked kind of familiar in that position there."

He proceeded to say, "Don't answer. I don't want you to refer back to the '90s."

Before Richmond spoke, Scott referenced the photo and alluded to the controversy of the Monica Lewinksy scandal with Bill Clinton at the time of his presidency.

The Louisiana GOP issued a statement on Thursday demanding for an apology from Richmond.

"Yesterday, Congressman Cedric Richmond made a deeply offensive remark regarding Kellyanne Conway, and he owes her a sincere and prompt apology. Using inappropriate sexual innuendos to demean women is sexism at its worse. Given that March is Women's History Month, Congressman Richmond's remarks about the first woman to successfully manage a US presidential campaign are especially disgusting. We'd hope that Governor John Bel Edwards and LA Democrat Chairwoman Karen Carter Peterson will join us in demanding Congressman Richmond apologize immediately."

WWL reports that Richmond issued the following statement in response to the backlash he recieved following his remarks:

"Since some people have interpreted my joke to mean something that it didn’t I think it is important to clarify what I meant. Last night was night of levity. Where I grew up saying that someone is looking or acting ‘familiar’ simply means that they are behaving too comfortably.

"I decided to use that joke due to the large social media backlash over her inappropriate posture considering there were more than 60 HBCU Presidents in the room.”